The Indianapolis Colts will start 23-year-old rookie quarterback Riley Leonard over 44-year-old Philip Rivers in Sunday’s season finale at Houston, ESPN reported Tuesday.
Rivers lost all three of his starts for the Colts (8-8) after coming out of retirement in mid-December following injuries to signal-callers Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson.
Rivers completed 63% of his passes for 544 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions in losses to three playoff-bound teams: the Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.
The Colts have been eliminated from the playoffs and will turn to Leonard to try to halt a six-game slide that followed a promising 8-2 start. They lost the first meeting with the Texans (11-5) by a 20-16 score in Week 13 in Indianapolis.
Leonard, a sixth-round pick out of Notre Dame, completed 18 of 29 passes for 145 yards and one interception with a rushing touchdown in the Week 14 loss to the Jaguars after Jones went down with a torn Achilles. Richardson has not played since Week 5 due to an eye injury.
Rivers told reporters after Sunday’s 23-17 loss to Jacksonville that he had no regrets about ending his retirement and returning to the NFL for the first time since January 2021.
“I’m gonna be on board to do what’s best for the guys,” Rivers said. “If this is the last one, shoot, I told you guys I wasn’t gonna have any regrets about coming back, and I don’t.
“Other than us not winning, right?”
Rivers was a Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist prior to embarking on the comeback. His candidacy now resets and he will next be eligible for induction in 2031 due to the five-year waiting period after retirement.
He spent 16 seasons with the Chargers (13 in San Diego, three in Los Angeles) and one season (2020) with the Colts before his initial retirement.
“If it’s the last one, it’s the last one,” Rivers said Sunday. “I thought the last one was walking off the field in Buffalo (in 2021). We’re walking up that tunnel and I was fine with it. And that one had tears, and those few days after it — and I was at peace with that being the last one.
“So certainly, if it is, I got three bonus games that I never saw coming and couldn’t be more thankful that I got the opportunity.”
